Asparagus is a member of the lily family, a grass, in the same genetic family as leeks, garlic and onions. Asparagus is a perennial, gathered in the wild since the Stone Age, and one of our first foraged foods. Asparagus grows almost everywhere, about 300 species exist, some poisonous, some ornamental, but asparagus officinalis is the edible type that we are most familiar with, whether green, purple or white.

Cultivated since ancient times, it was the Romans who were first wildly passionate about this slender stalk. They developed elaborate gardens and wonderful recipes for asparagus including slicing it raw into salads. They used asparagus as much for it’s culinary prowess as for its medicinal benefits, (Officinalis translates from the Latin as “of the dispensary”), especially as cleansing agent for the kidneys and drenal sysytem. Anything that tasty on the way in and that aromatic on the way out had to be good for you. They were right, asparagus is loaded in minerals and vitamins A, C and E. The Western Europeans introduced asparagus to the Russians, and in 1779 Peter the Great codified dozens of asparagus recipes in the first Russian cookbook. When the cultural doors opened back to the west, asparagus became the all the rage. By the mid nineteenth century asparagus was well on it’s way to becoming the vegetable star that it is today. American sensibilities are more inclined to popularize those things that are rare, or difficult to create. Asparagus by its very nature fit the bill. Asparagus doesn’t yield a crop until the complex maze of roots, called a ‘ball’, is 3 years old. Asparagus can grow up to 14 inches on a good hot, dry day, sprouting from the soil in the morning and able to be harvested as a mature stalk by nightfall. Asparagus requires careful tending, hand harvesting and asparagus farmers must farm in a three field fashion. One field waiting to mature, one field active for cultivation and one field lying fallow. Contributing to the mythology of the vegetable is the popularity of white asparagus. This is the same plant as the green varietal, but grown in loose piles of loamy soil, mounded up as the stalk grows, preventing sunlight from ever coming in contact with the spear. This prevents photo-synthesis from occurring, keeping the plant white, the tips closed and the flavor slightly more acidic and bitter. The Belgians and the French love this stuff! Asparagus is available year round these days thanks to the California desert crop and the South American harvests, but the penultimate asparagus is undoubtedly the first shoots of the year that make their way to your local farm stand.

The challenge to the cook is to preserve and emphasize the color, texture, flavor and healthful benefits of the asparagus, to know how to select, store and preserve quality. It seems a sin to lose the crisp bright snap of even one spear. Asparagus is a plant stem, as its Persian name asparag, meaning stalk, suggests. You need to look for tight tips and small leaves on the side of the stalk that cling to its body. Look for cut ends that are moist, not frayed, browned or dry. Spears should be smooth, not wrinkled. Storing asparagus is simple. Keep them standing in a few inches of water in the refrigerator, tented with a zip-loc bag. Since vegetables really do breath and have their own metabolism, we must slow these functions down to preserve freshness. Cold temperatures between 30 and 40 degrees in a moist environment will limit respiration and water loss.

When it comes to cooking, do you peel your ends? You can. It improves texture, but some purists love the crunch and contrast of the woodier end of the spear. I believe in snapping the spears to find the natural break point, use the stem end pieces for soups or sauces and steam the upper portions of the stalks in salted water. Steaming makes for tastier tips. They are done cooking when the cut end of the spear is softened. Roasting or wok sauteeing are my favorite techniques for dealing with asparagus. Because all moist heat cooking allows for a flavor exchange between the solids and the liquids, the very nature of dry heat cooking makes for a greater natural flavor concentration and higher vitamin retention. The caramelizing that takes place in either technique yields a heightened level of contrast with the sweet moist interiors of the spears. So get the family together, start snapping and don’t let the warp speed of the modern lifestyle stop you from spending time in the kitchen with your kids.